RipNAS Statement: world's first SSD-based CD ripping NAS device
By Darren Murph 
posted May 3rd 2009 4:29PM
posted May 3rd 2009 4:29PM
posted May 3rd 2009 4:29PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Yeah, um, WANT!
Atom 330 CPU/Mobo combo from Intel ($100 CAD/$80USD) - Atom 230 is $20 cheaper
Casing/PicoPSU/ACDC adapter ~$80CAD/$65USD from Mini-Box.com
2GB of RAM is $25CAD/$20USD
1TB 3.5" hard drives cost as little as $90CAD-$100CAD ($80USD)
Slim DVD-RW Drive - as little as $50
So for as little as $345CAD ($290USD) +sales tax you could get a 1TB "CD/DVD ripping NAS device"
P.S. For the OS use FreeNAS (linux based)
http://www.freenas.org/
... but this will sell for $600USD or more (call it BS tax)
Over $300 profit - and that's if you don't buy in bulk (which would probably bring it to $350 or more in pure profit. By the way if anyone wants one I'll build it for you for only $100 profit ;)
If you use the Enzotech solid copper cooler for the CPU you don't need a fan. Instant fanless, silent PC/NAS.
Sure. Tell me where I can buy SSDs for 90 dolares of 1TB. I want a dozen.
Jose - learn to read (not meant to be racist ;) )
I said HDD not SSD
kool aluminum housing...looks expensive
"The totally silent, all-silver box..."
'nuff said...
Throw some DivX Connected on this box and you're set.
Do not mention the dead!
Thats possibly the most useless application of an SSD drive. The general SSD advantages of shock-resistance, reliability, low(er) power consumption, quick random access, high read rates, etc offers practically no benefit in a streaming media server, not to mention even if you were to use it mostly for storing files, we don't know how fast the SSD is (off-brand SSDs can be incredibly slow), and the SSD version only has USB2.0 and 100mbps ethernet, so it is completely bottlennecked anyway. And an average 7200RPM harddrive almost saturates Gigabit ethernet so an SSD would be pointless even if the SDD model HAD GigE...
Looks like the idiot marketing department though "SSDs have a "cool factor", lets put one in our product'"
Actually, 10/100 Fast Ethernet and the slowest SSD is plenty fast for serving many streams of compressed audio. Even if all of the computers in most households were accessing audio, it would have plenty of overhead. The possibly lower power consumption of an SSD is also helpful because usually there are many hours in a day when my media server is not accessed.
So although it may be a niche product (even though it seems if it meets my needs it could meet a lot of people's needs), there is still a market for it. It remains to be seen if the price point justifies the market it addresses.
(I guess you're not in marketing if you can't see needs immediately beyond your narrow definitions. Or if you are, then, well, good luck.)
dyt1983, way to miss the point. Even if they use very slow SSDs to save on cost they're gaining no advantage over any existing hard drive for such a device. Western Digital's Green line of hard drives are going to be tremendously cheaper (both overall and even more so per gigabyte of storage) and they're going to be able to stream the media while maintaining very similar power consumption numbers.
This product itself is nothing special at all. Just another example of Engadget falling in love with looks for something that should be tucked away and out of sight any way. All while increasing price and in one of the models cases even limiting function.
@skyring, I think you're missing a couple points still. If the SSD can perform as it needs to, it will still (likely) produce less heat and noise than most every hard disk. If the power consumption is similar on the Green series, those factors still apply.
I have an SSD in my laptop and although battery life did not increase a HUGE amount, noise and vibration has greatly improved.
Also, if my server can go to sleep when it is not being used for an extended period of time, coming back from sleep will be a lot faster not having to wait for a hard disk to spin up.
Agreed that the SSD server will not be applicable for some applications, but there are definitely applications where it will work, and this is one where it CAN be useful.
Some of us don't tuck away our media servers, so looking nice can be useful as well. Not to mention some people don't mind paying extra for it. (The reason I need to get to my media server is that I still BUY CDs and need to be able to rip them.)
@dyt1983
"Actually, 10/100 Fast Ethernet and the slowest SSD is plenty fast for serving many streams of compressed audio. "
- Certainly, but thats not the point. The harddrive model can do the same but is 1) cheaper 2) has more storage 3) has Gigabit ethernet for transferring large files around
"The possibly lower power consumption of an SSD is also helpful because usually there are many hours in a day when my media server is not accessed"
- this is a non-issue. Harddrives only use more power than SSDs because of the mechanical parts. After they spin-down and idle, they use a negligble amount of power.
" I guess you're not in marketing if you can't see needs immediately beyond your narrow definitions. "
- my definition of utility is hardly narrow, I simply contrasted the benefits and drawbacks of the two models. And yes, thankfully I am not in the business of deception, disinformation, and hyperbole -- otherwise known as "marketing". I guess I am too honest.
"I have an SSD in my laptop and although battery life did not increase a HUGE amount, noise and vibration has greatly improved"
- Yep, a good SSD in a laptop has many advantages. We are talking about a desktop media server.
- "if my server can go to sleep when it is not being used for an extended period of time, coming back from sleep will be a lot faster not having to wait for a hard disk to spin up."
For me, saving 5 seconds to spin-up is certainly not worth more cost, less storage, and no Gigabit ethernet.
I sort of agree, what good will an SSD do in this device? Make it expensive or limit the storage. I doubt a regular harddrive is a bottle neck for the dual core atom.
Im sure you will all scream "but its low power" but look at what you arent spending, that pays for a lot of electric bills
I have an SSD in my notebook, I just don't see it being a good choice for this type of device
It pays for a lot of electric bills if you're paying where there's a cheap supply. My media server currently consumes around $30 a month of electricity (I've made power consumption improvemtents over the last 5 years that have been offset by higher electricity prices). There are those that live "off the grid", which is my goal, and some don't want to give up every comfort of modern society (I don't want to give up ANY of them but I want my home to be in a less industrialized area). I've been using my media server in its various forms for about 10 years, so a $20/month savings could easily pay for a lot of devices in a shorter amount of time.
As i mentioned above, it depends on the specific SSD and HDD drives, and your usage pattern. If the drive is idling most of the time, a spun-down low-power harddrive could use less power over the course of a day than an SSD. Either way, you are paying a lot more money for less storage and 100mbit ethernet.
There are many applications where SSDs are superior than HDDs, but this is not one of them unless you only value noise-reduction..
The reason you'd want the SSD's in this server would be if it's going directly into your AV rack, as everything is passively cooled, so there are no moving parts at all (unless it's ripping a CD) and so it's dead quiet in your AV rack while you are listening to music from it. This is meant as something for people that are probably already using an incredibly expensive audio transport, and this will replace that. If it was noisy then it wouldn't be able to live in the AV rack for the people that would buy it.
built in cup-holders?
sweet I'll take 2.
lol, I love you guys!
..."and we've absolutely no reason to believe otherwise"
Translation, an SSD CD ripping device is so useful. bahahhahahahha
I have the same box (originally from m-cube), and I use it for exact same purposes (amongst others) but with no drives in it - all stored on a 10TB RAID5 server humming along in the basement. I have the black version, and with zero moving parts, all passive cooling it is really a perfect "htpc" for ripping and playback of audio, video etc.
Why is it so BIG? It looks twice the width of my tower and 4-6" deep.
I was gonna say "That's what she said" but then I saw the "tower" so I am afraid I will have to say;
"Thats what HE said!"
if that's the CD slot on the front, yeah, that thing is pretty frakking huge.
It has to be that big in order for the passive cooling to be effective. The smaller it is the less surface area there is to disperse the heat.
Based on the size of the CD slot, it's probably a standard 19" rack width. It would fit in well with other a/v components.
Would you stop whining about SSD! If you don't think it's useful then don't buy it - they do offer HDD version of the device. How is offering an SSD version hurts anyone in the least?! Those that think they need it and are willing to pay will buy it, those that don't will buy the HDD version.
Err, although having SSD is great, this is not where you need SSD. It will only increase the cost. A NAS doesn't really need SSD's access time. I have WHS with a bunch of GP WD drives on gigabit ethernet, and I can stream HD movies just fine. Oh we,, there will always be suckers.
"...dual-core Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM and four USB 2.0 ports"
Now let those be the specs of my next netbook, please?
Try actually looking. Netbooks like that have been out for a LONG time
Where have you been?
One good application of an ssd-based media ripper would be in your car. however, as a nas, i don't know that it makes sense. but as a usb device, attached to a car computer, the fact that there are no moving parts and low power consumption would be really good.